Protect The Porkies

09/04/2026

The Animikiiwadiswan (Thunderbird Nest) encampment is a friendly and welcoming group of folks. Join us any time between Friday 3pm until Sunday at noon.

www.protecttheporkies.com/camp

09/03/2026

Encampment next to the Copperwood Mine site, this weekend, Friday 3pm through Sunday 12pm. All are welcome.

www.protecttheporkies.com/camp

09/02/2026

Today and everyday we're reaching out to the members of the Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee to request an investigation into the illegal, unconstitutional $50 million Copperwood Mine funding, which subverted democratically-elected officials.

All you need to say is, "I'm calling to request an investigation in to the illegal $50 million Copperwood Mine funding. Thank you."

Phone Numbers
Sarah Anthony (Majority Chair) 517-373-6960
Sean McCann (Majority Vice Chair) 517-373-5100
Kristen McDonald Rivet 517-373-1725
John Cherry 517-373-0142
Rosemary Bayer 517-373-2417
Sylvia Santana 517-373-0990
Sue Shink 517-373-2426
Jeff Irwin 517-373-2406
Kevin Hertel 517-373-7315
Darin Camilleri 517-373-7918
Veronica Klinefelt 517-373-7670
Mallory McMorrow 517-373-2523
Mary Cavanagh 517-373-7748
John Bumstead (Minority Vice Chair) 517-373-1635
Thomas Albert 517-373-1734
John Damoose 517-373-2413
Mark Huizenga 517-373-0797
Rick Outman 517-373-3760
Lana Theis 517-373-2420

E-mail Addresses
[email protected]
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09/02/2026

Glad to see a lively conversation in yesterday's post. However, too many folks need to brush up on their homework. We would highly recommend this presentation by George Wuerthner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNuumopUQ58

If they're going to log the forest for domestic lumber, they should just be honest about it. Instead, they're trying to make it more palatable with excuses about forest health, disease prevention, wildfire prevention, and more, none of which holds up to research.

Forest management has been highly ineffective as a method for wildfire prevention — wildfires will happen in dry, windy conditions, and the best way to slow them down is by letting forests MATURE into a more water-rich system. Logging them, even selectively, as well as clearing out dead brush, reduces water in the system, creates more airflow, sunlight, aridity, and increases the risk of wildfire. "Dead stuff" is a tremendous source of moisture in the system. Moss and mushrooms break it down into moisture-rich topsoil which turns into a fire-resistant sponge. Logging and heavy machinery destroys this. Logging also introduces roads, and over 90% of forest fires start in proximity to roads. Furthermore, most pestilences and diseases in forest are the downstream result of human intervention: clearcutting, chemical contamination, and more.

When forest management is suggested for the sake of "species diversity," it is the result of human impatience and inability to comprehend ecosystem successions which take place over the course of centuries. We live in a world with a surplus of secondary, managed forest and an incredible scarcity of wild maturing forests which benefit many other species beyond just deer.

Rest assured, this is not a case Protect the Porkies is taking up. We made the post at the request of another organization who is looking for a local resident to speak up: https://www.upenvironment.org/

Watch the video before commenting.

Learn how to live with wildfire and about wildfire ecology and the ...

09/01/2026

The U.S. Forest Service is planning to log an area 1.5 times the size of Detroit, between Sidnaw, Watersmeet, and Iron River, including immediately adjacent to the beloved Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness.

*** If you are a local who has made use of this area and intends to return again — for hiking, hunting, fishing, foraging, or other — and would like to help protect it, please reach out ASAP to [email protected]

Please share with anyone you know from this area. We need someone to come forward immediately. Your identity will be protected.

Over 82,000 acres would be logged, including massive clearcuts, under the phony premise of “wildfire prevention” and “forest health.” In fact, it is well documented that both logging and new logging roads increase wildfire risk because they replace cool, shady, moist conditions with hot, windy, dry conditions. Over 90% of wildfires commence within close proximity to a road. The deadliest wildfire in U.S. history, the Peshtigo Fire, occurred in a logging community — this is not a coincidence.

The time to speak up is now!

09/01/2026

“Wrong and possibly illegal”

That’s how state senator Jeff Irwin described the recent approval of $50 million taxpayer dollars to advance the proposed Copperwood Mine next to Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains. Other lawmakers are saying the same: this was a violation of the state constitution. We can’t let them get away with this!

Michigan residents, contact your state representative and senator TODAY.

http://house.mi.gov
http://senate.michigan.gov

SAMPLE MESSAGE:��

“Please conduct an investigation into the illegal $50 million transfer for the Copperwood Mine. Please pressure the Attorney General to conduct her own official investigation. In awarding public funds to a local and private purpose without a single vote from legislature, this is a clear violation of Article 4, Section 30 of the state constitution. It shatters confidence in the government and sets a highly dangerous precedent. Please help us respect and restore our democracy as soon as possible.”

Then, share the action with friends so we can keep building pressure.

OUT OF STATE RESIDENTS:��Please participate in steps 2-4 at www.ProtectThePorkies.com/take-action

The clock is ticking!

Photos from:
Sydney Paschall
Summer Dye
Sierra Snyder
Rozalynd Triplett

08/31/2026

Was the $50 million taxpayer-funded handout to the proposed Copperwood Mine illegal? According to a former Michigan Strategic Fund member, very likely!

1. Highland Copper still had not fulfilled the conditions of the original 2024 grant — this should’ve been the content of any MSF vote, not a reset of the clock.
2. The transfer of funds between two unrelated projects in order to subvert consideration by democratically elected lawmakers is entirely without precedent,

To join us in halting these crimes against democracy, please visit ProtectThePorkies.com/take-action

For the full interview with Cindy Warner, visit https://youtu.be/Hw6IsA9iMR0

08/31/2026

SAVE DEMOCRACY IN MICHIGAN, DAY ONE:

Utilizing one of the contact methods below, reach out to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to file a formal complaint against the Michigan Strategic Fund, demanding investigation into illegal and unconstitutional tactics.

* Phone: 517-335-7622

* Email: [email protected]

* In-Person: G. Mennen Williams Building, 525 W. Ottawa Street, Lansing, MI 48933.

* Official Complaint Form: https://secure.ag.state.mi.us/complaints/consumer.aspx

SAMPLE MESSAGE

I'd like to file a formal complaint against the Michigan Strategic Fund regarding the illegal transfer of funds to the Copperwood Mine proposal and demand than an investigation be conducted on the following points:

1) the total subversion of the democratically-elected appropriations committees
2) the unprecedented, illegal transfer of funds from an obsolete 2022 project to the Copperwood Mine proposal
3) the approval of Copperwood funding even though the company has failed to fulfill the original conditions of the 2024 grant
4) potential Open Meetings Act violations
5) potential violation of Article IV, Section 30 of the Michigan Constitution

Please follow additional action steps at www.ProtectThePorkies.com

Now it's not just the Porcupine Mountains and Lake Superior on the line but the basic principles of democracy which are the foundation of this country's freedoms.

Please share this action far and wide, and FAST!

08/29/2026

An economist from the U.P. shares his thoughts on the Copperwood corporate welfare swindle:

Copperwood, corporate welfare, and the wrong way to think about economic development in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

08/28/2026

State senator Jeff Irwin says the anti-democratic $50 million transfer for Copperwood was "wrong and possibly illegal."

Senator Irwin and his colleagues on the senate appropriations committee may be able to collaborate in an investigation into this gross abuse of taxpayer dollars and crimes against democracy.

Please reach out to the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee ASAP, requesting:

1) that they pressure the Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the illegal $50 million transfer
2) that the Appropriations Committee lead their own investigation

Call as many of these numbers / write as many emails as possible, as often as possible:

Sarah Anthony (Majority Chair) 517-373-6960
Sean McCann (Majority Vice Chair) 517-373-5100
Kristen McDonald Rivet 517-373-1725
John Cherry 517-373-0142
Rosemary Bayer 517-373-2417
Sylvia Santana 517-373-0990
Sue Shink 517-373-2426
Jeff Irwin 517-373-2406
Kevin Hertel 517-373-7315
Darin Camilleri 517-373-7918
Veronica Klinefelt 517-373-7670
Mallory McMorrow 517-373-2523
Mary Cavanagh 517-373-7748
John Bumstead (Minority Vice Chair) 517-373-1635
Thomas Albert 517-373-1734
John Damoose 517-373-2413
Mark Huizenga 517-373-0797
Rick Outman 517-373-3760
Lana Theis 517-373-2420

[email protected]
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[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
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[email protected]

How did Michigan give $50 million of our dollars to a new, Canadian mining company to extract copper from the Porcupine Mountains*, near the shore of Lake Superior, without approval from the legislature?

It looks like the Governor's team took money that was designated for a microchip manufacturing facility and are trying to repurpose those dollars to support a mine.

They did this because this project didn't have support in our legislature, but they wanted to do it anyway. So, the way they did this was wrong and possibly illegal.

It is also simply a bad project for public funds. That's why the project couldn't get support through the normal process. Legislators like me, who are reluctant to give taxpayer money to private businesses, want to see a real and obvious benefit to the public for projects like this.

That's how the administration was able to sell the funding for microchip manufacturing projects. These are advanced manufacturing projects that bring lots of jobs that stick around for a long time. A chips manufacturing plant would also be likely to bring other advanced manufacturing jobs and maybe research and development opportunities for people and businesses in Michigan.

A mine, on the other hand, brings a relatively small number of short term jobs combined with long-term environmental damage. What's more, we aren't competing with Indiana, Alabama, or Indonesia for the mine jobs. The copper, worth billions, can't be sent overseas. There is no good reason to subsidize this business.

*: the proposal is to mine from a parcel immediately adjacent to the Porcupine Mountains State Wilderness Area and to mine under the state park as well as on the adjacent land. Protect The Porkies has more details.